Society founder to receive Mari Sandoz Award

Judy McDonald, who is retired as dean of the College of Arts and Letters at Bemidji State University in Minnesota, was an assistant librarian and an instructor of library science at Chadron State for six years in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, when the society was organized. She was the society’s first executive secretary.

“Judy was the founder of the society, nurtured it, built the first early interest in such an enterprise, and brought me and many others to constitute the board in the early 1970s,” said Dr. Ron Hull of Lincoln, long-time president of the society.

McDonald stated, “In a way, the Sandoz Society had its origins in the late 1950s when I saw Mari in action at the Lincoln City Library. After her death, Caroline Sandoz Pifer (Mari’s youngest sister) generously shared biographical information about her for students when I was a librarian at Milford High School.

“Later, when I was at Chadron State, the Sandoz family gave me permission for us to start the society in her name, ” McDonald added.

McDonald recalled that the first activities of the society included publishing a quarterly newsletter and having convocations on May 11, Mari’s birthday. The new organization also sponsored a couple of “Sandoz Country” tours that included visits to the “River Place” south of Hay Springs where much of Mari’s first book, “Old Jules,” occurs and going east through the Sandhills to the place where Old Jules relocated and planted orchards.

Mari Sandoz’s grave is at the latter location.

Hull said McDonald also did the research and wrote the script for “Song of the Plains: The Story of Mari Sandoz,” a documtary produced in 1976 that featured interviews with all of Mari’s siblings who were still living and had Dick Cavett as host and Dorothy McGuire as narrator. Hull said the documentary is still a popular item.

McDonald also interviewed many of Mari’s acquaintances, wrote numerous articles about the author and was instrumental in opening a Mari Sandoz Heritage Room on the main floor of the Chadron State College Library. In addition, she helped organize a week-long workshop on the author that was taught by Roger Welsch at Chadron State Park and took the lead in nominating Mari Sandoz for the Nebraska Hall of Fame.

Sandoz was inducted into the hall of fame in 1976.

This will be McDonald’s first visit to western Nebraska since the Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center opened at Chadron State College in 2002. Full information about the conference, which will begin on Thursday, March 27 and run through Saturday, is available on the Chadron State College web site at www.csc.edu and at www.marisandoz.org.